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Ma Khin Mar Soe - Myanmar

The waves took everything away. Ma Khin Mar Soe arrived from her native Myanmar just a few months before the tsunami of December 2004. She fled poverty and dictatorship to work in the dynamic and touristic coasts of Thailand. However, she only found devastation and despair in the aftermath of the tsunami. In natural disasters, migrant workers are always among the most vulnerable and the less resilient.

A local NGO rescued her and other migrants, all victims of the tsunami. Thanks to this vital relief, Ma Khin Mar Soe could start building her life again in Thailand. She decided to give back, she volunteered in the very same NGO that helped her and quickly became a respected representative of her local migrant community. So much that she got offered capacity building and empowerment trainings.

“I feel concerned by every matter in my community because women must stand up for our common challenges.” For more than decade now, the trainings have given Ma Khin Mar Soe the tools to tirelessly advocate in her community for women’s rights and empowerment and migrant workers’ rights. Today, with the hope that the situation in Myanmar will soon allow her to come back home, she continues to work hard on construction sites and rubber plantations and splist her free time between her family and her cause. #SheisWe.

She is We

She is We

She is We

"She is We" shows that when women are empowered, protected, trusted and invested in, there are benefits for all of us. The campaign emphasizes striking stories of people everywhere in the world, and engages renowned personalities, activists, and members of the development community. This campaign is organized by EuropeAid for the European Development Days – a global forum focusing this year on "Women and Girls at the Forefront of Sustainable Development" to promote a safer, more inclusive and open world for women.